The Hidden Ingredient:
by Jemmiah
Summary: The trials and tribulations of finding a master please review!
1. Default Chapter Title

The hidden Ingredient - Part One

Written by Jemmiah

**************

"Now" Tuurith Wending eyed her class of initiates, making certain that she had everyone's rigid attention before continuing, "it's very, VERY important that you follow my instructions to the letter. Cooking is an exact art. You have to use the correct amounts of the specified ingredients for this to work. There can be no deviating from the tried and tested..."

She stopped as a small arm was raised at the back of the room. The arm itself was attached to a little blonde haired boy with a rather floppy fringe that almost covered his eyes. Tuurith swore inwardly. She hated initiates and she had reason to suspect that was the reason that she'd been slated to give this culinary demonstration. On days such as this she wished she'd never decided to work in the refectory.

"Er…yeah, you. Blonde kid. What is it?"

The fringe was brushed away to reveal an impudent pair of sparkling eyes.

"I was just wondering, is all."

"Wondering what?" Tuurith felt like screaming.

"Well, if the same rancid food has been cooked in the same way for generations…"

We have a comedian here, thought Tuurith as she examined the troublemaker from a distance. He must've been about seven years old, with a smart Corellian mouth on him to boot.

"We have certain traditions in this place." She retorted. "The food is prepared as it always has been."

"But that's so boring! I s'pose it keeps the healers busy with all the stomach pumping." The boy winked.

The pink skin became even more flushed.

"Correction: Cookery is an exact and boring art." She addressed the other kids but somehow contrived to keep one eye staring straight at the boy. "What's your name, kid?"

"Dex Berlingside, Master Wending."

"Well, Dex. We'll have less chat and more concentration."

The Corellian looked hurt and turned a morose and strangely out of place expression on the bigger boy who was standing by his left-hand side. 

"Next time you can ask your own silly questions." Hissed young Berlingside.

"It's not MY fault." The older lad replied tersely out the side of his mouth.

"But you said…"

Tuurith walked menacingly towards the duo armed with an intimidating soup ladle.

"I thought I asked you to hush up?" she bristled.

"OK, OK. Keep your moustache on." Dex mumbled.

"What was that?" demanded Tuurith venomously.

"I said I need to put my apron on." The boy replied innocently. "I can't tie it up at the back properly."

Tuurith sniffed.

"Should have thought of that before. You," she pointed at the taller boy, "whoever you are…"

"Initiate Jinn, Master." 

"Help this little monster with his apron. If he drops scalding soup over himself I'm the one who's going to get the blame. Wouldn't put it past him to do it on purpose." She gave Dex a final glare before walking away to the front of the room again.

Qui-Gon sighed, shaking his head as he tied the tags at the back of the boy's apron. He'd known young Berlingside for a year now and found that he liked the boy, but even he had to admit that he pushed his luck too far on occasion. He was cheeky and scamp like. This endeared him to his friends. It didn't endear him to the masters. This worried Qui-Gon. Which of the masters would chose such an impudent initiate for their padawan? He didn't want to dwell on it but Qui-Gon knew that Dex was a perfect candidate for becoming a farmer on some backwater planet…

He pitied the poor plants.

Tuurith smiled with no real warmth at all as she picked up a sharp little knife.

"You are going to be split up into groups of three. I want one person to remove the skins, one to chop and the other to get the stock reheated." 

"I want to dice the veggies!" Dex grinned.

She regarded Dex with a grimace. "You are not getting the knife."

"Why not?" Dex looked disappointed.

"Because you are too young and not to be trusted with a dangerous implement. Personally, I wouldn't put you in charge of a dishcloth." She waved her fingers in a vague snapping gesture. "You can go with Initiate Jinn. He can do the chopping. And that other rather sullen looking kid slinking away in the background can start heating up the stock."

Mace Windu looked balefully at Dex and Qui-Gon.

"Sith." He moaned.

"Sorry? What was that?" Tuurith said menacingly.

"I said sure thing, Master. No problems."

"Good." The distrustful expression was back on Tuurith's rather pink face. "Everyone get into threes. I'll be round to check on you to make sure you haven't set the kitchens on fire."

As the groups all dispersed to where they should be, Mace Windu grumblingly walked over to his fellow initiates.

"I hate this." He sulked.

"Why?" Frowned Qui-Gon.

"Because every time I'm asked to do something I always get put with you two lunatics and I always end up getting into trouble. You realize that anything we do now might jeopardize our chances of being picked as padawans." He looked at Dex. "Not that you've got much chance of being picked. Who'd want you?"

"Mace!" Jinn hissed.

"I'm only telling the truth."

"Why would nobody want me?" Dex scowled. "I'm wonderful."

"Have you heard yourself?" Mace let his jaw drop. 

"I bet I get a master before either of you." Berlingside smiled impishly.

"How much?" Mace stuck out his chin belligerently.

"I dunno. I'll think of something." Dex grinned as he picked up three onions and began to juggle them.

This time Qui-Gon admonished the boy.

"Put them down! If the dragon queen catches you you'll be before the crèche master!"

"No way." Dex answered. "They're far too busy to bother with the likes of little me."

"Dex, do it for me, huh? I don't want any more trouble. Not after the last time."

Berlingside's eyes sparkled with Corellian mischief. 

"Oh. That." He replaced the onions on the table, turning to wave at Lydia Sheil across the other side of the room. "You'd better start chopping then."

"They need to be peeled first." Reminded Qui-Gon. "Unless you want bits of skin floating in the soup."

"Can't make it taste any worse." Dex shrugged as he sat on a stool and began to shell the onions. 

For a few moments everything seemed to go without much of a problem. Mace busied himself with the stock, mumbling little blasphemies and the occasional obscenity when some minor mishap occurred. Qui-Gon felt rather relaxed. He didn't mind cooking at all, although he looked forward to the day when he would have a padawan of his own to do the cooking for him. That would be good, he daydreamed. Then he looked at Dex and hoped that the force wouldn't see him lumbered with someone like him…

A slight snuffling sound caught him by surprise.

"Are you OK?" He asked, wondering if Mace's cruel remarks had affected the boy more deeply than he'd thought.

"It's the onions…they're making my eyes all red and funny." Berlingside sniffed.

"Yeah, me too." Qui-Gon admitted. "They must be strong. And we haven't even began to cut them yet!"

Dex rubbed at his eyes.

"This is not my idea of fun." He whimpered. 

"Look, I'll peel and you have the knife." Qui-Gon muttered. "But only whilst dragon lady isn't looking. Go peel those Gourals over there."

Berlingside brightened up immediately.

"Thanks Qui." He chirped, reaching for the sharp little knife.

"What do you think you're doing!?!" Mace asked indignantly as the young boy started to chop messily on the board. "Are you mad? Qui-Gon, you are going to get us into soooo much strife if she finds out that you let…"

"Don't panic. As long as we keep our eyes open we'll be fine. The moment she starts to look our way we'll…DEX! She's coming over!"

Berlingside looked up, a plan formulating in his young brain. What an incredible opportunity for some fun!

"Drop the knife!" Mace said in a shrill whisper.

"OK! I just want to finish…" Dex stopped suddenly when the knife snapped down hard against the chopping board. His eyes went big and round, a shocked expression on his face.

"What?" Jinn gulped. "What have you done?"

Berlingside let his eyes fall to the chopping board and covered one hand with another.

"My finger…" he said faintly.

"What about it?" Mace asked.

"I've cut it off."

Mace said nothing more and hit the floor with a thud.

That had torn it, thought Qui-Gon bleakly as dragon woman stormed over to see what the hullabaloo was about. Dex sat crouched over on the stool, holding his hand and grimacing with pain whilst Qui-Gon went over to see if he could help at all.

"Let me see." He urged.

Dex shook his head.

"What's going on here?" Tuurith growled.

"I've cut my finger off." Dex looked as if he were going to be sick.

"WHAT! Who gave you permission to use that knife? I thought I told you to stay away from it!" she moaned at the thought. "I am going to get in so much trouble!"

"What about his finger?" Qui-Gon insisted.

"The healers can reattach it. And if not then he's got four others." Tuurith began to panic at the thought of what might be said about her and her level of childcare. A voice at the back of her head told her that maybe she should have thought of that before hand…

"Is it really right off?" she gulped as she leaned in for a closer look.

Dex waited until she was right beside her.

"Only joking." He grinned.

There was a pause of about seven seconds, in which time Qui-Gon thought that Mace should consider himself darned luck to be out cold on the floor. He would never see or suffer that glare that could melt plastics or corrode metals. Every child in the room cringed from its heat.

Except for Dex.

"That had you going for a bit, didn't it?" he laughed.

Tuurith responded by grabbing him by the ear.

"OW!" He yelled.

"It certainly had me going. And now it's your turn to be going…infront of the crèche master! Jia-Nu, take charge of this bunch of Sith whilst I deal with this little worm."

Qui-Gon felt the blood drain from his face as he watched the squirming Dex being dragged along by the powerful grasp of Master Tuurith Wending. 

He was fairly certain that Mace's bet with young Berlingside as regarded the obtaining of a master was quite a safe one.

************************

Dex had the vaguest feeling of déjà vu tugging at him as he was unceremoniously hauled towards his fate. It wasn't as if all the wriggling and protesting was going to do him the slightest good, but he felt obliged to put up some sort of struggle, even if it were a futile one. Besides, he didn't want to complain too much incase his ear came off in Master Wending's hand.

The crèche masters were usually OK and willing to overlook tiny, insignificant happenings but this didn't really qualify as such. Dex knew he'd been purposefully trying to wind the old dragon up from the first moment she'd set foot in the kitchen and what was more this was only the latest in a long line of incidents all involving himself. He'd been warned on numerous occasions to behave and each time had returned to his crèche mates suitably chastened and abashed. 

At least for a day or so. 

He couldn't help it. His natural exuberance made him bounce with energy. The idea that anyone would wish to stop him having fun was incomprehensible to him. And why shouldn't he have fun? Why was everyone so content to churn out serious clones of each other? Why should everything be the same as it always had been? If things didn't change they stagnated. 

Just like the soup, he thought with a grin…

Well, he wasn't a clone. He was Dex. What was more he was Corellian, and he didn't care what the crèche masters said. He wasn't going to stop having fun. 

Ever.

Dragon pulled him along and briefly Berlingside considered taking a bite out of her hand. Then he thought better of it. He was in enough trouble already. It was difficult trying to keep up with her large and rounded stride when his own legs were so little. He felt like he had been glued to a giant Ronto. The pressure on his ear was unrelenting but even so he could see from his left hand side what appeared to be a group of knights and masters walking towards them with rather surprised looks on their faces. Some of them he recognized from when they had come to look for padawans. He could see knight Fin-Tial talking with Master Agrikka. There was Master Gideon Lee, who was rumoured to be searching for another padawan on the successful knighting of his last apprentice. 

Behind them at a respectful distance came a knight in his twenties/ early thirties that Dex had never seen before. As he walked past the surprise on the man's face grew at the sight of the squirming boy being pulled by the lobe.

"I'm going to have one big ear and one little ear!" Dex panted as he tried to march along side the dragon. "And then none of the girls will want to kiss me because I'll look strange."

"You already look strange." Tuurith snorted. "Put a sock in it."

"I look handsome. All the women think so." Dex managed to get a certain amount of smugness across despite his precarious situation. "Except for you. But then again you don't count because everyone says you're really a fire breathing old dra-"

A tug on his ear caused him to squeal.

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you kid?" Tuurith snapped, nodding as she got level with the unknown knight. Dex saw him frown as he went past, but nothing was said.

As they reached the Crèche Master's room Dex felt panic well up within him. Whatever they punished him with, he'd try and take it with customary Corellian grace and dignity, but he really hoped he hadn't got Qui-Gon and Mace into trouble too…

The hand let go of his ear and pushed him steadily forwards through the open doorway. Dex swallowed as he was marched up towards a chair infront of a long desk. As he sat down, the door closed behind him, sounding his doom…


	2. Default Chapter Title

The Hidden Ingredient - Part two

Written by Jemmiah

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"Wait 'til I get my hands on that little squid!" Mace pouted, rubbing the newly acquired lump on his head from where he'd hit the floor. "What a hilarious joke! Really had me in stitches!"

"Sarcasm's one of your strongest suits, isn't it." Qui-Gon mumbled.

"I'll get him back, don't you worry." Mace said vengefully. "You just wait."

"You might not get the chance." Replied Qui-Gon with a sigh. 

"What do you mean?"

"He's practically on his last warning as it is. I don't know what's going to happen this time." Jinn shrugged.

"It's his own fault."

"Oh, pipe down Windu! Leave the kid alone. He's good fun and he's never got a bad word to say about anyone…well, rarely. You're just sore because all the girls think he's cute."

"I am not!" Mace looked uncomfortable. "You really think they'll send him away somewhere?"

Qui-Gon didn't know.

"I'll be sorry to see him go if he is sent packing." He replied eventually. "But I can't see anyone wanting to take him into their home, can you?"

"I always believe in looking on the bright side." Mace tried to console his friend.

"There's a bright side?"

"Sure there is." Mace answered perkily. "If Berlingside goes I'll have won my bet!"

***************************

A pair of black eyes set at either side of a rodent-like face flicked round the room in agitation. Rhuziat-Nam-Onnath, or Zia as she was affectionately known by the many children in her care was a Chikavi, a species of squirrel from the giant trees of Kavia Prime. Standing at barely four feet high there were some of her crèche children taller than she was, but her friendly nature and warm, fuzzy hair made her a favorite with her numerous charges. Of all the crèche masters to be judged by, Dex thought in relief, Zia was probably the one who would look most understandingly upon his misdemeanours.

The whiskers swivelled about from side to side as she considered the whole sorry tale.

"What am I to do with you?" she asked finally.

"You could get the healers to look at my ear." Dex rubbed at his painful lobe.

"I meant in the long term." Clarified Zia, her teeth grinding slightly against one another. "Why do you insist on being so disruptive? You are an intelligent, bright little boy. You are skilled and talented for your age. So why?"

Dex put his hands in his pockets and raised and lowered his shoulders in a don't-know-don't care attitude.

"How do you expect to get a master if you don't try to behave nicely?"

"I don't mean any harm." Dex protested.

Tuurith made a choking noise.

"Master Wending, could you return to your class? I'll deal with this."

"But I thought…"

"That you should have a say in his punishment?" Zia chittered in her high voice, causing Tuurith to flinch. "Well, I'm interested in your opinion. Please do suggest something suitable."

Wending was tempted to shout 'cast him out!' at the top of her voice but managed to restrain herself somehow.

"Bread and water only for the next day." Tuurith sniffed. 

"Well, young Dexter. What do you say to that?" Zia turned to the boy.

"You mean no refectory food for a day?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes." Wending said triumphantly.

"I have a question." Dex said excitedly.

"And what would that be?"

Dex looked hopefully at Tuurith Wending.

"Can you make it two?"

************************

"A whole week?" Qui-Gon asked sympathetically.

Dex nodded and picked up and empty plasti cup, placing it on a tray beside several others.

"A week of cleaning up in the refectory?"

Berlingside nodded.

"Old sour knickers told Zia she could do with some help in the kitchen."

"And when do you get to eat?" asked Mace.

"After everyone else has gone." Dex said in a lonely little voice. "All by myself."

"Cheer up." Qui-Gon smiled. "A week is nothing really. It will pass quickly enough."

"But I hate being by myself." Dex whined. "I have nobody to speak to."

"You're speaking to us." Mace pointed out.

Almost as soon as the words were out his mouth a shadow loomed over the three boys like a solar eclipse, dampening their mood immediately.

"No time to be chatting." Tuurith snapped. "There's a pile of cups over there in the corner. Go pick them up."

Dex felt like telling her to pick up her own cups but bit back the remark. Instead he looked forlornly at his feet.

"Yes, Master Wending." He parroted.

The rest of the initiates started to file out in small groups and Dex watched them miserably as they left him behind. He hated being without any company. Zia had known this and that was why she had taken up Wending's punishment suggestion. Vernice Ashdal smiled as he winked at her and Gilda Amaline giggled to herself. As usual, Lydia Shiel waved.

Everyone liked Dex.

"We've got to go." Qui-Gon stood up. "The knights and masters will be in shortly for their lunch. Infact, there's one of them over there already."

Mace craned his head.

"Who is it, do you know?" he asked.

"Never seen him before." Jinn answered, as Dex turned round to see who his friends were talking about.

It was him. The knight he'd seen earlier when he'd been marched away by Dragon Lady.

Dex paused for a moment, plasti cup in hand and stared at the knight, taking his measure. He had somewhat dishevelled, wavy brown hair that looked as if he'd just recovered from an unexpected lightening strike. Grey blue eyes stared back at him, the same expression of surprise that he had seen present earlier that day once more evident in the glittering orbs. It was a young and angular face, free from lines or stress. Not exactly handsome but not unattractive either, in a striking sort of way. It was the visage of a relaxed, if almost lazy young man.

Still the wondering eyes stared at Dex and his two companions.

"You two, move along." Tuurith said sharply, before turning to Dex. "You've got fifteen minutes to eat your lunch. Then you can join the others."

"But I thought…" Dex said in confusion.

"Well, you thought wrong." Master Wending replied archly. "Master Yoda has requested that all initiates are available this afternoon. There's going to be a display. Some knights and masters are going to chose padawans."

Dex's face lit up.

"I don't imagine you will have any luck, but as Yoda has requested all the initiates from your class I'll have to let you off this once."

"I might have a master tomorrow." Berlingside said airily. "I might not have to come back here and clear away your dirty dishes."

"Ha!" Tuurith laughed. "There isn't anyone insane enough to take you on. Now pick up those cups and have your lunch."

Berlingside nodded gratefully and did as he was told, happy to be free to rejoin his classmates, even if only for a day. As he sat wolfing down his own indescribable food for fear of being late for the viewing he felt the grey-blue eyes of the knight bore into the back of his head causing the hairs on his neck to stand on end.

Dex resisted the temptation to turn round.

The knight said nothing, stood up with a scrape of chair against floor and sauntered out of the room.

*********************

"Is Dex coming here today?" asked Mace as all the other children assembled around him.

"I don't know." Qui-Gon felt sorry for his friend. It would be a crying shame if he missed out on the chance to have a master because the old stoat in the kitchens wouldn't let him away.

"Do you think you can beat me with a sabre yet?" Mace challenged.

"That's not for me to say, is it?" Qui-Gon answered cryptically. "We shall have to see."

The younger children had been given simpler exercises to complete, such as basic levitation and manual skills, whilst the older children were practising with the lightsabre. Qui-Gon shook his head at the unfairness of it all. For his age, Dex was miles ahead of the other children. The tests would be so easy to him…

He heard the sound of pounding feet running against the floor surface.

"Am I late?" puffed Dex as he barged in through the door, sliding along the newly polished surface and straight into a row of initiates. They fell over like skittles hit by a ball at high speed so that within the space of a minute there was nothing to be seen except for waving arms and legs.

Qui-Gon groaned and closed his eyes.

"Oh, Sith! I'm sorry everyone." Dex apologized, running over to help disentangle Vernice. "I know I shouldn't have been running like that…"

"Then why did you?" frowned Master Gideon Lee.

Dex looked up and saw a collection of knights and masters all staring down at him. Obviously, they didn't like what they saw.

"Well, I…er. Didn't want to be late." Dex answered truthfully.

"And why would you be late?" Lee enquired.

"Because I…I was helping Master Wending clear away the dishes." Dex replied.

"Obviously a helpful boy, if a clumsy and non punctual one." Lee murmured.

Dex felt embarrassed, and Yoda turned to look at him, as did Yaddle.

"Well, actually no. I was helping her because I was ordered to do it for punishment." He admitted.

"Then an honest boy you are, if not helpful, clumsy and punctual." Yaddle smiled.

"Line up with the others, you will." Yoda said, his face not giving away his feelings.

Mouthing a 'sorry' at an indignant Mace, Dex took his place amongst the younger initiates. He felt slightly upset that he was amongst the children of his age group when he knew fine well that he was far more advanced then all of them, but knew it was pointless to argue. It would only make him appear in a bad light. And anyhow, maybe they would all make him look really good in comparison…

As the sabre practise went on in one half of the training rooms Dex sat in the other, wondering how Qui-Gon and Mace were getting on. It was so frustrating not being able to see! These exercises were for babies! Bored with levitating various sizes of rocks and training weights, Dex let his mind wander. What he needed was a more inviting target. Something that was worthy of his skills…

He saw some of the knights and masters looking at the fights, including Yaddle and Yoda. This would be really, really fun. If he could just pull it off…

Dex stretched out with the force and snatched Yoda's stick away from him just as the troll was about to lean on it. This time it was Yoda who fell over, pitching forward on his face.

Part of Dex shouted inwardly 'Yeeehaaa!' The other part screamed 'You idiot!' just seconds later.

The knights and padawans all gathered round Yoda, fussing and brushing down the dust from his robe.

"Fine, I am!" Yoda snapped. "Need assistance I do not! Think you a baby I am?"

"Snugglebuns, certain you are that hurt you are not?" Yaddle asked.

"My own council will I keep on when hurt I am!" Yoda replied, casting his eye through towards the initiates.

Dex froze.

"Know who did this, I do." Yoda said. "Step forward."

"It was me, Master Yoda." Dex hung his head. "I'm sorry."

"Your reason for attacking an old man I would like to hear." Yoda's eyes widened.

"I…I didn't attack you. I just sorta got bored."

"No concentration do you possess." Yoda shook his head. "Much talent but little commitment. Return to the crèche masters you will."

Berlingside nodded dumbly and turned on his heel, stopping only to hold the door open for one of the female knights as she left the training rooms. This time he was unaware of the same grey-blue eyes that followed his every move before the boy closed the door behind him.

******************

"The crèche masters are at their wits end, frankly." Samir the Togorian member of the council reported to Yoda. The boy's been advanced too soon from the crèche to his present level, if you ask me. He's too immature. Yes, he has the skill but not the patience and dedication that only time brings to an initiate."

"Much to learn, he has." Yoda smiled. "Learn it as an initiate he will not."

"You think to send the boy away?" Samir rumbled in his feline voice.

"Say that I did not." Yoda remarked. "Find a tutor for him we should."

"A master?" Yaddle queried. "Take on such a boy, nobody would."

"Wait and see, we shall." Yoda said sagely. "A shame it would be to lose one such as this for lack of instruction. Needs someone like him to teach him what is right and wrong. Attention he seeks."

Samir nodded in deference and Yaddle conceded Yoda's point.

"Other business you have to discuss?" Yoda asked.

"He is back."

"Know this I do." Yoda smiled again.

"Four years he has been away and learned nothing he has, it would seem." Samir growled.

"Judge him you should not." Yoda replied succinctly. "Spoken to him, I have. Changed he is. Compassion he has learned. Looks to himself he does not."

"He's just the same as ever." Samir shook his head. "So laid back that you have to pour him into his robe. I saw him at the demonstration today. I thought he was asleep."

"He WAS asleep." Yaddle chuckled.

"In some respects he is unchanged." Yoda joined in. "Speak to him first, you should. Then see you will the man he has become."

"Master Yoda!" a voice hailed them from the behind them.

The three of them stopped just short of the council chamber doors and slowly turned round.

"Master Sheedi." Yoda acknowledged with a slight bow. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

Yma Sheedi looked somewhat flustered.

"My friend here has an interesting proposition to put to you." The crèche master said in an astonished tone.

The robed figure that followed the crèche master garnered yet another smile from Yoda, the familiar glistening eyes beaming from beneath the hood.

"Again we meet." Yoda tapped the floor with his stick. "Come. Discuss this in the chamber we shall."

*********************

Qui-Gon tried to console Dex but he'd long since given this up as a hopeless task. The boy was utterly wretched and sat twiddling his thumbs as he sat on the edge of his bed.

"I don't want to go, Qui. I'm scared." He admitted.

"Whatever they decide, you know they won't let anything bad happen to you." He smiled thinly.

"They'll send me away for sure." Dex buried his head in his hands.

"That's what you get for picking on Yoda." Mace replied.

"Shut up, Windu!" Qui-Gon aimed a kick at Mace's feet.

"Hey, just stating the obvious!" Mace jumped away with his hands raised in defence.

"He's right." Groaned Dex.

"I always am."

There was a knock at the door, followed by the sound of legs walking towards him. Dex knew who it was but didn't want to open his eyes. As long as he didn't there was still a chance…

"Dex, the council wish to see you. Now, if you please." Yma Sheedi said in an indifferent tone. "If you could just follow me now."

Qui-Gon gave Dex's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Good luck." He said.

"Corellian's make there own luck." He stood up and finally opened his eyes. "I think mine's just run out."

Qui-Gon and Mace watched the blonde haired boy as he gave them a final, backward glance at the door before following Master Sheedi towards the council chambers.

"Well," Mace smirked, "I can sleep in the top bunk tonight!"

This time Jinn succeeded in kicking him.

*****************

Dex had never seen the inside of the council chambers and his first impression was one of disappointment. He'd expected something much more grand than the stark simplicity of the polished floor and the panoramic view of Coruscant's multi storied buildings. He bowed deeply to each of the masters on the council, some of them regarding him with amusement, others with completely blank expressions.

Yoda's face was inscrutable.

"Summoned you we did." Yoda stated. "Talk to you we would."

"Your antics this afternoon were disgraceful, you do know this." Samir leaned forwards in his chair.

"Yes, Master."

"And still you persist in these childish pranks."

"A child he still is, forget this we must not." Yoda pointed at Dex with his stick. "Learned from your mistake, you have?"

"Yes, Master." Dex swallowed.

"And what have you learned?" asked Samir.

"That when I want to pull someone's stick away from them with the force to make sure that it isn't Master Yoda's." Dex said in a shaky voice.

An amused laugh from just inside the doorway caused Dex to whip round. A hooded figure stood, watching him. Even though he couldn't see the eyes, Berlingside knew it was the knight who'd been regarding him as he worked in the refectory.

"This," Samir said with a frown, "is Knight Quirida-Xac Montal."

"A proposition he has." Yoda stepped in. "Take you as his padawan, he would."

Dex felt the world stop in its tracks. Everything seemed to stop infact, including all rational thoughts. Even his heart for a moment seemed to cease beating.

"I…I don't understand." He managed to squeak.

"Seen in you the hidden ingredient, he has. The thing that makes one different from another." Yoda looked fondly at the tousled haired young man as he pulled back his hood. "Well matched you are. Learn much from each other you will, if accept you do."

Dex's stunned expression melted into radiance.

He had a master.

HE HAD A MASTER!!!

********************

"Looks like the council did kick him out." Mace said a touch too smugly. "It's nearly time for bed and there's no sign of him."

"There's still time." Qui-Gon refused to give in.

"Yeah, right…" Mace began.

He stopped abruptly when a small figure crept back towards his old bunk. Windu almost reeled in shock.

"Dex!" exclaimed Qui-Gon happily.

"I'm just collecting my things." The solemn voice replied.

Qui-Gon's face fell.

"They…kicked you out?" he asked in a shocked tone. "They really did?"

"I knew it." Mace said quietly, although he was no longer crowing.

Dex climbed up to his old bunk and felt under the pillow for the book chip he had been using.

"Nope." He said.

"What do you mean, nope? They must have done!" Windu frowned. "If you're not kicked out then why are you removing your stuff?"

Dex inched along the bed until he was staring Mace directly in the eyes.

"Because I'm not an initiate any more." He pinched Mace's cheek. "I've been padawaned!"

"WHAT!" screeched Mace in disbelief.

"As of tomorrow I am a padawan. At least when they can hold the ceremony."

"Dex, that's fantastic!" Qui-Gon grinned.

"Who's your master?" Windu asked.

"Quirida-Xac."

"Who?" Qui-Gon frowned. "Nevermind. This is truly wonderful news. That means you are the first of us to find a master!"

Dex sat back on his haunches and grinned evilly.

"I know. I won the bet, Mace."

"I don't believed we named the penalty." Windu felt a slight shiver go down his spine. Corellian's could be VERY inventive.

"I haven't considered it yet." Berlingside laughed.

"But be sure of one thing Windu, if it takes me forty years to think of something, I'll be waiting to collect!"


End file.
